Airlock

Airlocks are points of entry and exit aboard a starship or spacestation. Most personnel that enter or leave a ship travel through an airlock whenever it is docked. Typically, an airlock comprises a small room with mechanical and energy-based seals on either end. This redundancy has become standard for most spacefaring designs, as the possibility of being sucked out of an airlock into the vaccum of space is a very real threat. It also serves to protect the station or ship from rapid decompression by allowing an atmosphere to be pumped into a lock, equalizing the pressure.

Airlocks provide access from a ship/station's interior to space or to another ship's interior. Starfleet's airlocks also include numerous sensor scanners that search for things like weapons, explosives, wanted fugitives, and dangerous diseases to name a few.

Federation ships and stations normally have there airlocks positioned on their port and starboard sides.

See also Docking Ports